While originally mankind's skill fishing grew out of recognition that fresh water and salt water fish were abundant as a food source, many modern men and women enjoy fishing simply as sport and as a way to pass leisure hours. These men and women, who may be collectively referred to as anglers, practice many different types of fishing, examples of which include bait fishing, fly fishing, spin cast fishing, and ice fishing, to name a few. In each of these sports, a fishing line is used which line is wound on a dispensing assembly such as a reel, which in turn is mounted on a fishing pole. A hook apparatus is located on a free end of the fishing line and is provided with either a real or artificial food stuff to attract a fish. When a fish is caught by the hook element, the fish is retrieved to the angler by means of the fishing line.
Part of the skill of fishing is maintaining a proper tension on the fishing line so that it does not exceed breaking strength of the fishing line so that the fish does not escape. Since the weight of the fish freely suspended by a fish line may often exceed the breaking strength of the line, anglers often employ retrieving apparatus, such as hand held nets, to help retrieve the fish once it has been maneuvered to a location proximate the angler. However, in the sport of ice fishing, the use of traditional retrieval apparatus has been impossible, and applicants know of no apparatus or method which is heretofore been widely accepted by anglers who ice fish.
The reason for the lack of a commonly used apparatus and method for retrieving fish while ice fishing resides in the nature of ice fishing, itself. As is well known, when an angler engages in the sport of ice fishing, the angler establishes a fishing location on the upper surface of a thick ice layer formed over a body of water that defines the fish habitat, and the angler carves an ice hole through the layer of ice to expose the water. While such an ice hole may be formed in any manner, typically, the angler employs a boring tool which carves a cylindrical hole through the ice layer so that the whole has an upper and lower opening and a cylindrical sidewall. The typical boring tool is 8" in diameter. After carving such hole, the angler places the bait or artificial lure on the hook element and suspends the hook element in the water so as to attract a fish. Once a fish is caught, the angler maneuvers the fish to lower opening of the ice hole and then pulls the fish upwardly through the ice hole to complete the catch.
As noted above, a problem can arise where the weight of a fish exceeds the breaking strength of the fishing line or where additional stress is created by the frenzied movement of the fish as it is being withdrawn through the ice hole. In either of these situations, there is a tendency for a fishing line to break under such stress which allows the fish to escape. Further, there is an increased possibility for a fish to slip off or detach itself from the hook during an attempt to land the fish through the ice hole. Due to the size of the ice hole, it is impossible to utilize the traditional hand held fish net to assist in the retrieval of the fish through the ice hole since the head of the net will not fit therethrough.